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The Dread Solstice campaign for Malign Portents is finally upon us, and the dilemma and choices for week 1 have been revealed:

Dark omens abound in every realm. Your soothsayers and seers read the stars, throw their runestones, and study the omens of the natural world before reporting back that a great doom haunts the horizon.

An ancient power is rising – that much, your seers have divined beyond a doubt. Since Sigmar’s Tempest broke across the Mortal Realms, the iron stranglehold of Chaos has been weakened. It is not only the God-King’s followers that have made use of that opportunity. None truly know that which destiny has in store.

All that is certain is that the lands you have fought so hard to claim are under threat. A lingering suspicion haunts your mind – perhaps, if you do not act wisely, you will lose everything you hold dear.

Conversely, if you make the right decision, you may benefit from the disquiet that simmers within every tribe and nation. In times of great upheaval, old kings are cast down and new rulers rise to prominence.

Many rulers are turning a blind eye to the rumours of supernatural phenomena in their domains – for these lands, ravaged by the dominion of brutes and tyrants, are no stranger to evil spirits and corrupted souls. But you know to trust your gut instincts as well as the warnings of your advisors.

What will you do to prepare for the tumultuous times ahead?

The Drake: "The stars themselves are the key. You use powerful spells or shamanic rights to manipulate these celestial bodies to your will."

The Eye: "Even an ill wind can fill your sails. Whilst hope is replaced by paranoia and superstition, you make the most of the growing madness."

The Skull: "How dare these stargazing fools spread dire rumours? You are not afraid of the darkness. Exile these bothersome prophets, or send their secrets to the grave."

Personally, I'm struggling to understand what these mean and why I should pick one over another. So help me get engaged with this. Which one will you be choosing and why?

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As someone who is soon going to be building a daughters of Khaine army, I will choose the eye. With death and chaos fighting each other it is a perfect time to expand our territory outside the realm of shadows.

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Since my main army is khorne I feel like I am obligated to choose skull. Though if I understand correctly we choose on a game to game basis so I will be picking based on what army I am playing so if I play my skaven I might pick the Drake since my arch-warlock would probably try to manipulate using spells.

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Ok, I think I'm starting to see how we're supposed to approach this. We're not trying to influence the story with a specific outcome in mind. We're supposed to essentially roleplay - picking the option that we imagine our faction or our general would choose, then see where that takes us. I can get on board with that.

So I guess my Anvilgard army will be opting for either the Drake or the Eye. My army is headed up by Stormcast from The Anvils of the Heldenhammer, so The Drake seems like the goody-two-shoes Sigmar-loving option. BUT, I feel like there's a dark streak running through Anvilgard that might make them open to using dark forces to their advantage - the ends justify the means, etc, so they might choose the Eye.

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Ok, I think I'm starting to see how we're supposed to approach this. We're not trying to influence the story with a specific outcome in mind. We're supposed to essentially roleplay - picking the option that we imagine our faction or our general would choose, then see where that takes us. I can get on board with that.

So I guess my Anvilgard army will be opting for either the Drake or the Eye. My army is headed up by Stormcast from The Anvils of the Heldenhammer, so The Drake seems like the goody-two-shoes Sigmar-loving option. BUT, I feel like there's a dark streak running through Anvilgard that might make them open to using dark forces to their advantage - the ends justify the means, etc, so they might choose the Eye.

Hmm. This is more fun than I initially gave it credit for.

I think this the best way to think of it. These portents are ways to give flavour to your individual games. I would like to see the new rules that they introduce as the campaign goes on be bonuses or forfeits for choosing various options. So those who followed drake may uncover a new arifact they can use if they are the most popular vote but be lead into a trap if they are not.

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I think this the best way to think of it. These portents are ways to give flavour to your individual games. I would like to see the new rules that they introduce as the campaign goes on be bonuses or forfeits for choosing various options. So those who followed drake may uncover a new arifact they can use if they are the most popular vote but be lead into a trap if they are not.

Yeah, I hope the outcomes have a clear and meaningful connection to the winning choice.

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Gaze the stars, free the spirit, focus on the hope and forsee the thread we must take. Drake for me, always liked divination. Hopefully I'll eventually get to play my Bard of Desna.

Drake - divination, see the obstacles and a way to overcome them. Either direct them against each other, avoid or predict the best way to directly overcome.

Eye - opportunism, pragmatism. It doesn't matter, if the portents are true, what matters is who believes in them. A word here and there and you can benefit from the situation.

Skull - Drake feels opposite of the Skull, sort of reactionary force to what the source behind the Skull is doing. The Skull doesn't want to be shown or wants other to know what it's planning, until it gains enough momentum, after that it doesn't matter what others actors will do. It's rather interesting situation, if you think that there might be more sources interacting behind the portent. For example two cities silently plotting against each other, seers would divine a Skull portent with unclear source behind it.

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If I might take a step back from the in character fun to make an argument instead as a player of Age of Sigmar, one who hopes to see the dynamic of this game evolve in complexity and interest going forward, I would strongly argue that all players, regardless of personal alliance of choice, log their points in favor of the outcome that most advances Nagash's grand vision for the realms. The reason for this is simple - to date Age of Sigmar's narrative has been entirely one dimensional, a binary conflict between Order (with Sigmar at the helm) and Chaos (following Archaon). Dread Solstice offers the first real opportunity to break from that single axis into a multidimensional conflict.

A victory for Nagash here obviously isn't going to plunge the entire realms into undeath, GW isn't going to end the game based on player results in a campaign. Rather, what it will do is establish the Undead as a real threat in the narrative, an actual third party adding meaningful complication to the narrative. Defeat for Nagash would just mean the perpetuation of the two-years-stagnant status quo, regardless of whether that defeat is handed out by Sigmar, Archaon, Morathi, or someone else entirely.

That's why I urge you all to push for the Skull this week, and for whatever result best advances Nagash's plans in every week going forward. How you justify it is up to you. If you like khorne, support Nagash for his big old skull face. If you play Tzeentch, support Nagash because his victory represents the best opportunity yet for a change in AoS's narrative rut. If you play Daughters of Khaine, support Nagash because his ascension will force the other forces of order to turn to Morathi for aid and finally offer her the respect she deserves. If you play Sylvaneth or Nurgle, support Nagash because his victory will inherently tilt the AoS narrative in favor of Life-vs-Death instead of Order-vs-Chaos, increasing Alarielle's significance within the pantheon of Order and Nurgle's significance within the pantheon of Chaos. If you play Slaanesh, or Brettonians, or any Destruction army, or any other faction that's been pushed aside and shoved under the rug by GW in AoS so far, then support Nagash as a matter of mutual respect among the little guys, and to stick it to those factions that have been monopolizing all of GW's attention and support up till now. Even if you play Stormcast, support Nagash because you're just tired of fighting chaos all the time, whether in the fluff or on the tabletop.

A victory for Nagash in Dread Solstice is a victory for Age of Sigmar in general, as a game worth playing and a setting worth investing in emotionally.

. . .

and please disregard my avatar image when considering the merit of my arguments.

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If I might take a step back from the in character fun to make an argument instead as a player of Age of Sigmar, one who hopes to see the dynamic of this game evolve in complexity and interest going forward, I would strongly argue that all players, regardless of personal alliance of choice, log their points in favor of the outcome that most advances Nagash's grand vision for the realms. The reason for this is simple - to date Age of Sigmar's narrative has been entirely one dimensional, a binary conflict between Order (with Sigmar at the helm) and Chaos (following Archaon). Dread Solstice offers the first real opportunity to break from that single axis into a multidimensional conflict.

A victory for Nagash here obviously isn't going to plunge the entire realms into undeath, GW isn't going to end the game based on player results in a campaign. Rather, what it will do is establish the Undead as a real threat in the narrative, an actual third party adding meaningful complication to the narrative. Defeat for Nagash would just mean the perpetuation of the two-years-stagnant status quo, regardless of whether that defeat is handed out by Sigmar, Archaon, Morathi, or someone else entirely.

That's why I urge you all to push for the Skull this week, and for whatever result best advances Nagash's plans in every week going forward. How you justify it is up to you. If you like khorne, support Nagash for his big old skull face. If you play Tzeentch, support Nagash because his victory represents the best opportunity yet for a change in AoS's narrative rut. If you play Daughters of Khaine, support Nagash because his ascension will force the other forces of order to turn to Morathi for aid and finally offer her the respect she deserves. If you play Sylvaneth, support Nagash because his victory will inherently tilt the AoS in favor of Life-vs-Death instead of Order-vs-Chaos, increasing Alarielle's significance within the pantheon of Order. If you play any Destruction army, support Nagash as a matter of mutual respect among the little guys, and to stick it to the Order and Chaos alliances that have been monopolizing all the attention in this game's narrative up till now. If you play Stormcast, support Nagash because you're just tired of fighting chaos all the time, whether in the fluff or on the tabletop.

A victory for Nagash in Dread Solstice is a victory for Age of Sigmar in general as a game worth playing and a setting worth investing in emotionally.

. . .

and please disregard my avatar image when considering the merit of my arguments.

I agree I am actually happy that chaos is not the only threat in AOS. Vote skull people! Do it for the sake of interesting narrative!

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I'm leaning towards the Eye, as I have a Nurgle army that I'm slowly building and I think now is the time to sieze the advantage and get a decent foothood for a new part of the garden

if you want a greater foothold for nurgle, the best thing to do is to support Nagash by voting for the Skull. The ascension of Undeath tilts the conflict in the mortal realms away from Order-vs-Chaos and in favor of Life-vs-Death, a conflict which positions Nurgle out of all the Dark Gods at the very center of narrative focus, while simultaneously drawing Alarielle's hostile gaze away from the Plaguefather and towards the Archlich, exposing her fecund realm to Nurgle's putrescent hand.